The Man Within The Titan

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

Alric sat quietly behind his large wooden desk, in the center of it sat an analog Dejarik board, each piece intricately carved from rare ivory accented with gold and hints of electrum. He watched the board quietly, his eyes scanning several of the figures and their place on the board.

There was a look of consideration on his face.

He watched the board for some time, but moved none of the pieces. There was still time to consider, no rush. He was never pressed for time in this game, never pushed to move fast or think fast. This was a game of patience, of thought and careful consideration. That was why he liked it, it was a different game than the one he played with Titan, with Blas-Tech. Long patient considering instead of quick jabs.

Each had their own appeal, each had their own fun.

He liked games, always had. Today would be a game, a different sort of game but a game nonetheless.

Alric smiled slightly as the buzz of the comm screeched out into the middle of the room. He looked at it rather calmly, pressing a small key to listen to the sound of his secretary's nasally voice.

“Mr. Serin, There is a Sith Lord here for you.”

She sounded hesitant, but Alric simply bade her to send the Sith inside.

Just a game.

 

[Ellie Mors]

It would be an understatement for someone to comment on Silara's recent choices in life and imply that she had no idea where she was going - what path she was on, and where it lead. A big part of her was so obsessed with the history of the Order of the Sith Lords that she wished to emulate them, but deep down she knew that her hopes were simply that, hopes. There was no extinguishing the flame that fueled the One Sith, and she didn't want to try - they were currently useful in every sense of the word, and she felt something not unlike attachment to the Dark Lord that lead them. It was time she came to face that fact that she was at a crossroads in her life, and so when she had arrived at a corporate headquarters on Coruscant, she could not help but wonder why she was there.

So fast it had flown, the flow of time through her life that is, that each day felt like they encompassed weeks at a time, yet also passed in the blink of an eye. It felt as though only yesterday that she had subtly taken control of the Sorrusian economy on Sorrus to funnel credits into her own pocket and that of her modest sized corporation, Laravan, but today she was here for some other reasons - most of which were simply excuses to meet a new face. So when she was asked her name and business, the Sith Lord plainly stated her status as Darth Vitium, inciting some sort of unease in the receptionist that soon sent her on her way to meet with the man behind the military industrial complex that she could never have hoped to so much as hang onto. "Good afternoon, Mister Serin." Silara stated plainly, her words rather dull and as unengaged as her expression, looking for an appropriate place to take a seat as to have a proper conversation with the man. While the Vahla could make whatever reason she had arrived known to him at the moment, she preferred to let things reach that point on his own time - it gave a greater illusion for control in most of the rich and greedy, so she supposed it would appease him as well.

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

Alric stood up from behind his desk, moving passed the hard lacquered wood to come stand directly in front of her.

“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Vitium.” The titles of Sith were not for him to use, mostly because he did not understand him. He knew of the Darth title, and he knew what it represented, but he didn't quite understand why the Sith bothered with them in the first place. It was not his place to question however, and instead he would just use the honorific he had been told was acceptable.

All part of the game he supposed.

“Please, have a seat.” He waved an arm towards the massive sofa at the back of the room. It was arranged in an L shape with a large island in the middle. “You must excuse my secretary. Visit's from members of your Order are an...oddity, even here.”

That was a kind way of saying that Sith were terrifying beings and their presence was usually not received well, even when those Sith happened to be beautiful young women.

Perhaps it was that sense of fear that floated around her. The aroma of an oncoming storm, the feel of a person that could kill you at any moment. It was a pressure that exuded from her, one that was difficult to miss. He doubted that it was a conscious effort, not something born of the force, more likely it was the experience of lessons learned. She was an interesting piece, a new one to his board of dejarik. He had no clue what part she would play.

Yet he couldn't wait to find out.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Nodding appropriately to the greeting, Silara found a seat as she was suggested to. For a moment she just stared down at her feet, a bit curious about all of this - the way she'd been treated that is. It had been so normal for her in the past to simply walk into a building and for the occasional glance to be more of a stare at her posterior or something along those lines rather than her being known as a Sith. She hadn't been conscious of the change in other's behaviors until today, not quite so long after she'd become publicly known as the Sith Lady, Vitium. Her thoughts were confirmed as the multi-billionaire spoke, and with a soft smile she nodded again. It was not with great effort that she remained mute for a moment longer - recently she'd found herself more weighed down by thoughts, as she was currently - but once the silence set in she parted her lips to make certain the conversation did not go stale. "Yes, I've become slightly more aware of that recently." She replied with an amused smile, as though what he had said was somehow entertaining - another comfort she'd seen corporate executives and herself find welcoming over abrupt seriousness.

Straightening herself somewhat, making sure to keep her legs uncrossed and knees together, Silara leaned forwards a tad bit and held both of her hands together at the top of her knees. "I'm not certain if you are aware or not, but I run the small-time vehicle company, the Laravan Corporation, which supplies luxury vehicles to the elite and on occasion a military grade vehicle." Silara began after a short pause, gathering her thoughts as she spoke. "I have come into possession of a somewhat limited quantity of metal known as ultrachrome, and while I certainly have the materials, I find myself without the funds to afford the actual processing of the metal." She continued, allowing the conversation to gradually flow back to [member="Alric Kuhn"] with an implied request, though she shortly finished soon afterwards regardless. "I was hoping that I could petition your assistance, either in funding or in cooperation. Assistance from you would be greatly appreciated, and I would certainly owe you a valuable debt." The blonde concluded, not too entirely certain if he would accept or not - not like it truly mattered, she wasn't exactly sure if she even was here just for an attempt at a temporary contract or not.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

Alric sat down not too far from her on the end of the L shaped couch, ensuring that he could properly look her in the eyes as she spoke.

The intensity that surrounded her softened slightly as she smiled, it was a smile that had an odd air of innocence, perhaps even playfulness about it. Something that he would never have attributed to a Sith Lord. Her words were interesting as well, and they taught him something new, an awareness that he had not had of the Sith before. She had apparently not known of her imposing nature, having only become aware of it recently. It showed a certain human quality to her.

Alric had often thought that Sith tried to beyond such things.

Oddly he found that slightly endearing.

“Our purpose is to serve the Sith, and any bargain that benefits yourself also benefits us.” Not entirely true, though Titan received a great deal of its funding from the One Sith it wasn't all about profits and good will. A great deal of what Titan Industries was founded for was apart from what the One Sith actually wanted. Unity and peace were all well and good, but a corporation like his dead not make money during peace time, even if that was a long way off. “Ultrachrome is not a material we generally work with, it's expensive to mine and difficult to forge, but it shouldn't be an issue. Titan Industries would be happy to help in your endeavor.”

“Plus, It wouldn't at all hurt to have you on my side. I'm sure that smile of yours is can convince even a Terantatek to side with you in an argument.” He flashed her a charming grin.

There was a danger in that, charming a Sith Lord. It was one he was well aware of, but Lady Vitium hardly seemed the type to rip his head off...he hoped.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

A knowing smile fluttered across her lips impulsively, and she made motions to giggle but stopped herself before it was too late. It wasn't quite the matter-of-fact answer he'd given her about the material she'd slid into the conversation - she had no real intention of using any such material in the near future, though she did entertain the idea from time to time. It was his sense of coincidental humor that struck her in a place she'd not often felt. Had he known what she was, perhaps the unintentional reference to her nature as a twisted human being would not have been made - or perhaps it would have been pushed upon her with much greater vigor, she did not know. She simply found it cute. It was much like the way her younger sister rambled on about her problems to the Sith Lord that this man seemed to affect her, and it was always pleasant to feel - that tickling of feathers on the underside of her heart. A silent sigh of nostalgic enjoyment left her lips before she realized it, and found her little smirk turning into a small smile very quickly as she heard herself. "Why thank you, that's very kind of you." She replied, perfectly unnatural in every way as compared to how she conversed with others. It was quite odd, and she soon found herself bewildered at her change in persona and quickly dismissed it with a slight tilt of her head. "I am highly aware of the compound's difficulty and price, it was quite the fortune to simply come into possession of the ultrachrome." Silara prattled on, though she was quite a bit more interested in hearing the man speak.

She wasn't one for flattery, at least not on the giving side, - it was too awkward for her, and it felt highly unnatural - so she instead resorted to her tactics of business to flatter him instead. There was nothing a man wearing a fortune's worth of clothing that sat behind a rather expensive desk in one of the most successful companies in the galaxy found more appealing than a little fish. Silara likened them to sharks, men and, on occasion, women that sensed the vulnerability of others and worked to take advantage of it. Leaning back a bit in her chair, she slid down slightly and allowed her posture to lessen in rigidity. "I am glad to hear that you are so willing to work with Sith, as I am more than willing to make it worth your while." She said with a soft smile, not quite stating something, but subtly implying much.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

“Are you?” He mused to himself almost inaudibly, a smile creeping across his lip.

Stark blue eyes flickered towards her, and a hand crept up to take off his glasses. Reading people was important if you wanted to win the game. Mostly it was because through reading a person you could learn their intentions.

Alric had often heard it said that Lorrdians were famed for their reading of people. They were a species that could take the slightest twitch, the smallest smile, the inching of a finger, and tell you exactly what that person was thinking. Right now Alric envied that ability. With ordinary people it was simple, seeing the greed in their eyes, the joy in their lips, the hatred fuming from their body. They were easy to read.

This woman....

This woman was different.

Had he been asked, Alric would have said that Vitium was...fleeting. Though her smiles were genuine, and her expressions were rather inviting, there was something in the air about her that seemed threatening still, a small nudge that told him to flee in the other direction before she picked him up from the ground and snapped his neck.

Alric decided to ignore that feeling.

“Perhaps you would enjoy discussing this more over dinner.” Did Sith even eat? It was startling how very little he knew about them. “If you are not too busy that is. I imagine a woman such as yourself has more than a few offers for your attention. Though I can assure you, I will raise mine until you submit.”

He winked, unlike most Sith, Alric wore his intentions on his sleeve.

 

[Ellie Mors]

There was something absolutely amusing about people whom openly toyed with those they knew could pose a grave threat, and this man's daring approach to her was like a moth to a flame, only rather than keeping his distance he flew right in. She could almost smell the frustration he held with her games, and that was all the more satisfying. Perhaps there was something more to this, certainly more than a proposal of business that she had no real interest in to begin with. What was most pleasing, however, was his response. "Dinner?" She echoed, shifting in her seat slightly so that she leaned a bit to the right with her face on her shoulder. His words had been a bit of a surprise, even if she had intended to get a reaction out of him with her coy teasing. For a moment she allowed her expression to seem perplexed, and she turned her eyes away from Mister Seran. There was something about what he said, however, that clicked in her head. She couldn't put a finger on it, his words having been lost on her after she initially heard him speak, but it made a cold chill run down her spine. "Why..." She began, her voice trailing off as she looked back up to him. "I'd love to." Silara concluded, her curious expression replaced with the beginnings of a soft smile.

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

Alric allowed himself to look pleased, smile drawing across his lips.

The danger of this was inherent, it was palpable, but Alric decided that he no long really cared. Risk was a thing that most carefully calculated and played against with a safety net. One would think that Alric did the same, running not one, but two galaxy spanning corporations. Yet Alric Kuhn was a man known for doing stupid things.

He had taken Blas-Tech from under the nose of the Tion Hegemony, and he had dared send one of the most powerful women in the galaxy a skimpy dress. Risking her ire for a small amount of amusement simply because her posture had annoyed him.

Everything was thought out, planned, and calculated, but to many it was still stupid.

“I'm glad. I dislike chasing beautiful women, they always seem to be faster than me.” Alric said with an odd grin, standing from his position on the sofa and taking a glance at his chrono. “I suggest we leave now, I now a quaint little Bistro only a short journey from here.”

Slowly Alric held out a hand to her. “Unless you're in the the mood for something more...exotic.”

He stressed the last word slightly, his face giving nothing away.

 

[Ellie Mors]

There was something different about the man behind the titan that she was beginning to see, almost as if threads on a curtain began to unravel before her very eyes. She'd expected the arrangement to be made in a formal tone, regardless of his little jab a few moments earlier, within some sort of business place. She'd never quite been the one for a business plan, her company stayed afloat from assistance done by a twi'lek slave that had taken over the company to the public, and it all seemed so stiff and stuffy to her. But rising up infront of her was someone who seemed genuinely spontaneous - and he wasn't a raving psycopath to boot. For a moment she felt a little warm inside, as if her stomach was doing somersaults, and when she reached out to accept his offering hand, his words made her blush. She was temporarily speechless, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to discover the words that eluded her, eyes wide, and her hair fell into her face as she tripped before quickly righting herself. "Y-Yes!" She stammered, though quickly realized how juvenile and excited she sounded. "I mean.." Silara quickly continued, her voice trailing off with her train of thought and she internally kicked herself for losing her composure. "Why don't we stay in? I do like exotic things." She said, not quite certain if what he'd said was simply a play on words or if he meant something a bit deeper. The former would be more than acceptable, but the latter was what she really wanted at this point.

And she didn't even think about business.

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

His face remained completely still, holding that smirk as the Sith Lady...well made a slight fool of herself.

It was so unexpected, so out of place that it was almost startling, bewildering, but entirely endearing. He oddly found himself switching from simply hunting, to actively pursuing. It was an unconscious switch that flipped in his head, one that shifted without notice. His palm grasped on hers, fingers wrapping around her own.

A single strain of his arm, and he pulled her up from the sofa and against him.

The tone of her voice, that inviting song, it made him want to do foolish things.

“Well then...” Alric whispered to her as his lips neared her own. “It's a good thing that I am an expert in the exotic.”

Then Alric Kuhn didn't what he was wont to do. He put himself into a position that was dangerous, foolish, and above all, enjoyable. His free arm wrapped around her, his hand folded completely around her own, and his lips touched hers.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykW4rtW2eu0[/media]​

They say hot flashes are a sign of getting old, that it means the end of viability as a potential life partner for the men of the galaxy, a sign of a depression of beauty, a decline from one's prime. Perhaps for the norm this was the case, but she was far from average - and it wasn't merely a flash of heat through her body. The touch on her hand had felt warm, but as she drew close while he pulled her up into him the feeling became almost unbearably hot - as if his skin burned hers on contact. Had she not taken preventative measures against perspiring, she was certain that such would have immediately occurred - the entirety of her body wracked with an uncomfortable shift, something she'd not felt before. What was it? She couldn't put a finger on it, but with her lips so close to this man's, with his musings spoken to her without regard to his safety, she just crumbled inside and succumbed to what she wanted most, whether she thought about it or not, for now it was entirely impulsive - natural. "You talk..." She said softly, her expression not quite unlike a girlish frame of flattered amusement, before cutting off her own words with a quick, hard, press of her lips on his. "..Far too much." Silara whispered, pulling away for just a brief enough moment to let the words out.

It had been years since she'd been this excited to be in someone's company, let alone willingly partaking in something more than a flirtatious exchange of words, and at this moment she was genuinely lost on what to do. She, a contriver of grand schemes and manipulator of the masses, quickly found herself unable to even discern on possibility to the next, in fact nearly every form of intelligent thought left her as she realized the feeling of warmth from his touch was addictive and pushed up against him. A flick of her head and pull of her hand set her hair loose with a coy smile. There would be no toying with him, he was beyond such. For now, all she wanted to do was feel that heat all over, from head to toe, and with another push up against "Mister Serin" she hoped to cement that chance with another heavy kiss. "Oh Kark it, you know what to do." She said, almost grumbling at the futility of simply kissing to appease the urge she held to be bathed in the feeling of warmth.

[member="Alric Kuhn"].

 

[Alric Kuhn]

@Darth Vitium

To be fair to her, it was a critique that he had oft received.

His arm wrapped around her, his lips against her own, her body pressing into him, and the heady scent of desire within the air. He could feel the want in her, the need of her that called out to him. Her words directed him, made him grin a chesire grin. Yet it was so strange to him.

When she had walked into that door there had been a spike of fear that rushed through him. When she had first spoken he had felt opportunity, and upon her first smile he had stemmed with exhilaration.

It had moved so fast, so quickly.

How had they gotten here?

He found himself not caring. There was no longer time for thought, no longer time for planning or deciding a next step in the game. There was only one thing that Alric Kuhn could do in the moment, and that was give in. With powerful, practiced hands he began to pull at her, tearing away bits of clothing and pulling her free from the confines that entrapped her.

His lips brushed against her skin, his hands grasped at her flesh and hair, and then he took her.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEiGbXvF_Rw[/media]​

Part of her had wondered if the room had been soundproofed - she'd made quite a bit of noise - but the majority of her hadn't cared, not even in the slightest. Within moments they had become enveloped by an animalistic urge and the room had become a mess of torn clothing strewn about the floor. The air in the room had raised several degrees, it felt, and the perspiration that gathered at her forehead and beneath the nape of her neck had alluded to either that or, vicariously, a labor intensive workout. When their playtime was presumably over, several minutes - perhaps ten or fifteen even - after at that, Silara found herself laying on her side with the front side of her body pressed loosely against the businessman. For a moment she tried to connect the dots between how at one moment she'd been working out a plan for a contract and the next laying completely bare beneath a single sheet beside the same man she'd been meeting with on the floor beside the very couch they'd sat to speak to each other at. In silence her eyes made their way up to Mister Serin's face and she paused. There was something pulling at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't find the words just yet, and her arms moved against her will to wrap around his chest. The start of a complacent smile formed at the edges of her lips as she pulled herself towards him and set her face against his, almost snuggling with the corporate titan.

Almost.

Truly doing so would admit that she had feelings for someone, and at the moment she wasn't quite certain of that.

"Silara." She whispered, her lips mere millimeters from his ear and positioned just beneath it. A short, brief, kiss against his cheek was all she could muster before dropping her head down against the soft plush of the carpeting. 'That was.. Wow.' Flooded the thoughts into her head, a pleasant sigh escaping her lightly gaped lips as she let her eyes close again, however briefly. "That's my real name." She said softly, turning her head to the side again to look towards him with a questioning expression when a thought struck her that felt doubly out of place currently. She'd let it wait for a few minutes, let Serin and her bask in the afterglow. She was, after all, practically glowing.

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Silara"]

He breathed.

His chest, covered in a slight amount of thick black hair rose up and down. His bright blue eyes stared up at the ceiling and he found himself questioning every single life decision he had ever made up until that point. His founding of Kuhn Consolidated, his business practices, his taking of Blas-Tech, the induction as head of Titan, his fight against Danger, his journey in the desert, everything he had ever done, anything that had ever effected his life.

It all ran through his mind until this very moment, all ran through his thoughts, stopping suddenly as Silara whispered in his ear.

It caused goosebumps to travel all over his body.

His fingers curled slightly, his hand having made its way between her thighs, gently resting there, thumb stroking up and down in a soothing unconscious motion that had started the moment she had pressed herself against him.

Alrics head swiveled to turn to her. She was beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. Her face was soft and cut, her eyes a piercing green that struck to his core, her lips seemed to part momentarily, enticing, drawing him in. He moved forward, kissing her.

“Alric.”

He said quietly, and with all the thoughts racing in his mind, with all the decisions he had ever made coursing through him...he found no regret.

 

[Ellie Mors]

If there was ever a moment that she had doubted herself, thought that she knew nothing, that she'd merely played dress up for the last twenty years of freedom, it was now. Here she was, covered in sweat and other things, under a sheet, and laying beside a man that very well could be the man of her dreams. 'But you are a Sith!' Her thoughts screamed at her, the conflict between who she was and what she felt was staggering, and she couldn't help but let her grey eyes look up into [member="Alric Kuhn"]'s with some feeling that was most certainly not lust - though she tried her best to ignore it. Rather than speak for the moment, still wishing for their private moment to last forever, Silara settled on nuzzling her head up against his shoulder, allowing her eyes to close and her expression to shift to content. And for several seconds that was all there was for her, a feeling of content with being so close to someone so precious to her. A small smile grew on her lips without her consent and she rolled into him somewhat, pressing the front of her body into the side of his. Although she was perfectly happy with keeping the romanticism afloat there was the issue of her primary reason of coming to see him - even if at this point she felt it was too different, too awkward, to address. "Hey.." She said quietly, uneasily, as she let her eyes flutter open a tad bit. Her stomach flipped, and she felt legitimately bad for breaking the silence in such a way, for bringing this up. "I was wondering if you would be willing to develop a ship for me, one of a kind." Silara continued, her voice small, almost as small as she had been when his hands had been at her hair and neck. For a moment she opened her lips to speak, but then nothing came out, she simply couldn't continue. It felt like she was using someone that was beyond the value of being used.

She tilted her head back and moved her free hand to his chest, rubbing it gently. Her eyes shut tightly, anticipating a rage or some silent fuming of frustration, a realization of being had. She had, technically speaking, taken advantage of the situation - but she was his forever, whether she said it or not, whether he knew it or not. In the future he'd find himself with a woman with excellent potential to be a wife, she was sure, but at the moment she would have to do. Sith Lords famously didn't live very long, not when exposed to the public for any extended period of time - she'd already foreseen an inevitable mutilation, perhaps one resulting in her death as she could see no further no matter when she tried. Of course the fact that she was worrying over what the man she'd just slept with was thinking about her went unnoticed like a shard of glass on a sea of sand. "A.. Yuuzhan Vong craft." She whispered, cringing internally in preparation to be escorted out of the room - entirely forgetting her intimidation factor that seemed to dissuade others from actively threatening her in her sector - without a lick of clothing on her back.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Silara"]

Alric laughed.

It was a loud boisterous laugh, one that shook his chest and her upon it. It was not a taunting or a mocking laugh, it was not mean or anything of the sort, it was filled with pure and unadulterated amusement. He grinned at her, bright blue eyes seemingly staring into her soul, his laugh slowly died down into a chuckle, the joy in his eyes clear as he looked at her and moved one hand to touch her face.

His fingers cupped her chin, tilting her head up towards him. That was when he saw it, the gaze, the look. It stunned him for a moment, the joy, the mirth and amusement that had been so plain on his face drained away for a second, his gaze becoming something else.

It was a gaze that he had never seen before, from anyone.

It was a look that stunned him, that stopped him in his tracks. The shining emeralds of her eyes caught him and Alric found his head spinning in circles. He tried to regain his traction, closing his eyes for a second, letting out a deep breath as he opened them once more. All the things that made her a Sith had melted away, all the things that had made her powerful and intimidating had simply gone.

Right now she was simply Silara.

The hand on her thigh tightened slightly, and his thumb gently pulled on her lower lip, opening her mouth so he could kiss her again.

“You will have it.” Was the only thing he said before he pulled her atop him.